Headquartered in Georgia, US, TickBox TV is predominantly used in the US but similar devices are hugely popular in the UK.

Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures are also bringing the suit against the company.

TickBox promotes the device as the means to “cut the cord” if “you’re sick of paying high monthly fees and expensive bills for your regular cable bill and premium cable channels like HBO... or if you’re tired of wasting money with online streaming services like Netflix".

Roku

A Roku box set lets you stream digital TV shows to your TV - but is often used to stream pirated material

But in a lawsuit published online by TorrentFreak, the plaintiffs claim: "What TickBox actually sells is nothing less than illegal access to Plaintiffs’ copyrighted content."

Along with various boxes that you can buy online, people are using legitimate gadgets to stream pirated material, including Amazon Fire and Roku sticks.

You don’t need a satellite or cable TV package to use Roku or Amazon Fire – all you need is a Roku box, a television and an internet connection.